Money For Nothing Lyrics

You guys are digging too deep into this. First, it's not Knopfler's opinion, just a quotation from a REAL guy working in a store, and the song sung by a fictional guy working in a store and lamenting, jelaous of "those assholes that get money without doing any real work". Ironic that nobody pointed out that KNOPFLER is a musician who earns MONEY FOR NOTHING much (playing guitar on MTV).

Also:

"Noun
faggot (plural faggots)

(rare, dated in US) A burning or smouldering piece of firewood.
(chiefly UK) A bundle of sticks tied together.  [quotations ▼]
1853, Sir Francis Bond Head, A faggot of French sticks: or, Paris in 1851, page 2:
In the depth of, winter, however, a faggot of real French Sticks — although of little intrinsic value — may possibly enliven for a few moments an English Fireside.
(obsolete) Burdensome baggage.
(obsolete, pejorative) An old woman.
(Ireland, colloquial, pejorative, obsolete) A woman.  [quotations ▼]
1796, Theobald Wolfe Tone, Autobiography:
she wants me to go to bed to her, and I won't, ... for she is as crooked as a ram's horn ... and as ugly as sin besides ; rot her, the dirty little faggot, she torments me.
1834, William Carleton, The Midnight Mass:
The woman, in accordance with the custom of the country, raised the Irish cry, in a loud melancholy wail ...
Darby, who prided himself on maintaining silence, could not preserve the consistency of his character upon this occasion ... "Your sowl to the divil, you faggot!" he exclaimed, "what do you mane? The divil whip the tongue out o' you! ..."
1973, Hugh Leonard, Da:
MOTHER: To see who?
DA: You faggot, you; don't let on you don't know.
(derogatory, vulgar, colloquial, US, Canada, Australian) A male homosexual.  [quotations ▼]
2004, Dennis Cooper, The Sluts, page 228
We're a hot looking crew that's your average faggot's wet dream, so we pull some pretty max tricks.
------> (pejorative, vulgar, US, colloquial) An annoying or inconsiderate person.
(UK, Australian, Ireland) (obsolete in North America) The cast off end of a smoked cigarette.
(chiefly UK) A meatball made from pork. "

So, let's put it into perspective.

If 'faggot' here means gay, then the fictional worker INSULTS KNOPFLER (and all other musicians) that he's gay. In a song written and sung by the guy, no less.

And if he means 'jerk', it's again just relaying the words and thoughts of a man who is jelaous of HIM. In other words, a song about someone considering performing music is an easy way to get rich and famous. And he hates him for it, because he's not rich, or famous, and he's putting in loads more effort.

Above all, it's just a song. And I won't even get into things like "chicks for free", and rap music in which women are considered objects, but the only fuss is raised when people relay death threats and gay insults through music... Grow a pair, folks.

The reason there are brackets there is because the radio edit didn't have that verse in it,that's why they're there,so people who haven't heard the full version would understand that. The guy who took time to write this was just being considerate,let's not waste our lives on the internet yeah

I am pretty sure the song is written from the perspective of someone upset about how musicians make money without doing any "real" work. So one guy from a hardware store is talking about the faggots on tv who are making a metric fuckton of money. I.e. the people.writing and performing the songs. Some of them were, infact, gay.

Think of that verse - the little faggot with the earring in the makeup, yeah buddy, that's his own hair ... the little faggot got his own jet airplane, the little faggot is a millionaire ... meaning that someone who is derisively dismissed as only some kind of FAGGOT is doing pretty well for himself, so who has the last laugh now (to quote another REALLY OLD song) ... it is not a slur against gays, but againsts morons who go around calling people FAGGOTS or whatever slur.

Are you serious? Why do people complain about this shit? I myself am gay, and have no problems with the use of the word faggot in a song. So stop acting all distraught and horrible is someone uses a word in a distasteful manner. Freedom of speech people. Fuck whoever gets offended. Take in your damn stride. It is a word, and words are meant to be used...anus.

What is it with these anal PC eejits who form censorship committees? Canada has already had the piss well and truly taken out of it once before when Kevin Bloody Wilson toured, and was informed that ''You can't say the 'C' word on stage in Canada Mr Wilson''...Result? KBW opened his gig with the hastily written but hilarious ''You can't say cunt in Canada'' QED bozo's

Back then everyone had more balls than people today. No one truly cared that the word faggot was in there. It's all the little immature faggots now that complain about it because it "offends" them. Here's an idea shut up and grow up. Life's not fair you just need to learn that the real world will eat you alive if you complain about this crap.

The use of the word Faggot was simply because THAT'S WHAT THE GUY SAID.

The Person "singing" was a guy in a store, who was bemoaning his life. Yeah, He says Faggot, but obviously he has a respect for the guy, seeing he says he should have learned to Play the guitar, etc.

The only reason anyone makes a big deal out of this is becasue they need something to complain about: exactly why I'm posting this, actually.

that little faggot should refund our money ,then we wouldn't have wasted our time and money listening to Money for Nothing,we should find that little faggot and kill him for even being a part of that music.... causing all these problems.It is what it is ,its great music ,they made alot of money,everybody had a good time .
WHO CARES! ...The FAGGOT?

Are they going to ban all the songs with the N word in them? What about all the ones that are slightly sexist? Heck lets just ban music in case we offened someone, Then we can books next. How about we just ban talking.

So what if they use the word Faggot? In a liberal democracy, you should be able to say what ever you want as long as it's not threat or you are inciting to violence as Mill said. Yes to freedom of speech, no to the Canadian censorship.

I don't think it ruins the song..You've got to understand that 'faggot' doesn't ALWAYS mean 'gay or homosexual'. A 'faggot' can just be an A-hole. If your friend is hogging all the nachos, you can say "Hey man stop being a faggot." It doesn't mean he's gay... he's just a faggot. It's elementary!

^^Are you in elementary SCHOOL? No, "faggot" is not a euphemism for "stupid" or "asshole" no matter what you call it. It's a bigoted slur. If someone's acting like an asshole, call them that, instead of implying that their jerkish behavior is akin to the behavior of gays.

Well I have always liked the song. In fact Sting sings the chorus with him. I think he is in fact making reference to the fagot in a positive way.
He is saying while in our minds that guy may be a fagot while "we" judge then he gets things for free and he is a millionaire

"Lemme tell ya them guys ain't dumb". See.. He is comparing the way people go around and judge and say they get it for free but they are not dumb wither. He is referring to the judgment of the world and saying maybe I should have been this/that.. maybe that would have made you happy
but while you judge me I am not dumb. In fact quite the opposite.

Just my two cents :

I think it's kind of funny about gay people getting upset at these lyrics. I mean, what about "Chicks for free"? Doesn't that make women seem like tramps? I'm a girl and I don't feel targeted by the sentence, I understand it's a song and just a way to get the story across.

I used to love that clip when I was about 3 years old only. I can still remember the bad 3D! And the guitar riff is sooo good.

personally, i believe in knopfler's right to use the word. the song doesn't suffer, and i find that it makes a valid point. however, it strikes me that its meaning seems to have eroded, at least to some reviewers here. it is a derogatory word for a gay man, and there is a whole long and interesting story that explains why it no longer refers to a bundle of sticks. that does not change its nature in modern usage. using it conveys prejudice, even if it is not the artist himself who is prejudiced.